Good grief...when it rains, it pours. Thoughts and prayers from down this way...Godspeed.

Corky

I found this old Cub, Forgotten and Forlorn,With pistons and valves frozen and worn.Help from my buddies on Farmallcub.com,And an engine from Ralph, (37’s the one),Now ole Corky is running and back to life,Much to the surprise of my dear, dear wife!

Wow, I'm starting to be fearful of checking in on the "Friends and Family" forum. Having said that, I now check it more often. You've been dealt a plateful of challenges lately, that's for sure. But you have your faith, your family, and your friends (including your forum friends) to help you through this. In that regard, you are blessed indeed, as some people have none of that.

Had two appointments today, one was in the eye clinic where they did the dye test. Em said I looked very much like an orange after the test. The light was very bright and in my left eye it was blindingly bright however in my right eye I couldn't even tell that there was light at all. I guess hopefully in time there may be some improvement. Dr. Taylor is supposed to let me know asap.

They say that the Lord never gives us more than we can handle and I have always believed that...... at times I just wish it could be a little less intense

They say things both good and bad come in sets of three's. Thats bad thing number 3, so you gotta get better from here on out. We won't have it any other way, ya hear? Don't make us come up there.... One for Sam.One for KrisOne for Rudi.

There, hope that does it.

Next time you are out here in the Pacific NW see us atThe Great Oregon Steam Up in Brooks Ore, along Interstate-5 just North of Salemhttp://www.antiquepowerland.com Held the last weekend of July, and 1st weekend of August"Steam and Gasoline"

I guess you all kinda noticed that I am still not posting a lot. Hard to see... even with the magnification. You can only magnify so much and then it becomes almost impossible to formulate a thought or even read a post, so it takes me a little longer than before.

Since my last post to this thread we have been doing what Dr. Taylor has advised. Drops and more drops ... black patch over my eye - kids come up to my wife in the market and ask "who the pirate is" or "hey mom why does that man have a black patch" .... I had my first laser treatment in March - 120 shots and then had to wait 4 weeks. 29th of April had my second laser treatment - 500 shots -- yup, that smarts some but nothing I can't handle. Last Tuesday had another appointment with her, couldn't figure it out cause I wasn't due yet for another laser treatment so I was kinda hoping for a basic checkup to see what/how the treatment program is progressing.

Well.... didn't quite work out that way. She started explaining to Em and I about a new drug that they have been experimenting with for opthalmologic treatments. Not really a new drug but a new application. Normally the drug is used for cancer treatments - part of the chemo regimen. Didn't bother me too much until she said normally it was delivered in very high doses and delivered intravenously. Mind you needles don't bother me much anymore, after 2 decades of being a pin cushion one gets used to sticks. However, then she threw in the curve ball.... in opthalmologic treatments the dose is about 1.5ml delivered via needle into the eye itself

Nope, not happy with that scenario at all.... but since I told her I would do whatever she asked of me, I had no choice but to proceed. Took about an hour to prep - freeze eyeball ... etc. Darn good thing I can't see squat out of that eye cause I don't think I would have liked to see that needle coming. I am not queezy or anything like that - heck I have fallen off of roofs, ladders, got my hands caught under engines and such, whacked my head with an auger truck -- so pain isn't something I am really unfamiliar with But man, that sucker hurt Now I gotta give one of my fellow injectees some props .. I guess she was about 70 or so and this was her 6th treatment, so I really had to man up here and take it as it came.... but man that sucker hurt Probably cause the pressure in my eye was 34 .. which is kinda high so they tell me.

Anyways... that was Tuesday. Friday comes along, Mess Dinner -- all spiffed up in my DMVA uniform complete with medals etc., Em and I went out for an evening of good food, friends and chit-chat. All went well I guess until the main course when my eye really started to get painful. The next two hours were not fun .. the pain just got worse. A beer, 2 glasses of wine and a full glass of port didn't take the edge off at all. We finally got home, started taking my drops hoping that would help -- took almost an hour to get the drops in --- burn like never before. About 10pm Em said that was enough, Sabrina and Duane were home for Mother's Day so Bri along with Em got me out to the van and off to the hospital. Em pushed me in a wheelchair, one of the nurses who knows us asked what was up, Em told her and about 5 minutes later I was in the eye room and the ER Doc (we have known him for 25 years) came in, took one look at me and asked me what Dilaudid did to me. Told him and he asked if I can tolerate Demerol. Yup.. next thing I know I am getting a shot. He let that work for a bit then said, now that we have addressed the pain let's have a look ...... He added 2 more drops to my list, sent me home with some Demerol in tablet form, and orders to contact Taylor on Monday. He couldn't understand how I was handling the pain -- my eye pressure was 35 this time and he knew that had to smart.

Anyways, yesterday was uneventful, had another CAT Scan with the radioactive dye to see whether or not I get a stent or roto-rooter. Will find out soon I guess.